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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Get ready for a bridesmaid miracle. Or two. We have had a breakthrough people. Hold up- today is my bday. Just so you are aware. Back to the breakthrough. Betty Bridesmaid has been on a short hiatus. Maybe because she was tired. Or nervous. Or in denial. Go with option number 3. So any who, I was supposed to pick up my dress for Logan's wedding a long, long time ago. I procrastinated. Finally, I was forced to take possession. I let it hang in my car for a week. Then I moved it from my car to the back of my closet. I don't know what it is, but I FEAR the dress (any dress really). So on Friday night, when I couldn't sleep at 3 am, I decided to face the dress. So I put it on. Here is where things went CRAZY. I. actually. really. liked. the. dress. There. I said it. I didn't know what to do with myself. So I sat down. Next thing I knew- it was 9 am. I slept in the dress. And when I woke up- I still liked it. CRAZINESS. I know, you are proud. Then I took it to the bridesmaid dress alterations wizard. I just assumed it would need to be altered. So she put me in the changing room (Recall my other past visits where I was petrified and thought that I would have to get naked). I have matured people. I was only 34% scared instead of my past 125%. She came in and then asked me if something was wrong with me (In general or just right now?). She said "Girl, you don't need no alterations. You just a need to get yo self a scrapless bra." Best news I've heard in a while. She said "You like like you supposed to look. Good." I tried to mask my delight by almost tackling her and hugging her (Also out of character..). Things were looking up in the maid department. I thought yesterday was good. Let me just tell you about today's bridesmaid miracle.

Today (on my bday) I had to go down to Bella Bridesmaid. The place I hate, yet secretly love. Okay people. Confession. I kind of like it. Not the whole dress part, but the place is actually kind of cool. Plus the girl who runs it is kind of a bad *ss. I mean, when I first started in the wedding vortex, she had to deal with me. She has turned this thing into a pleasant experience. So I ventured downtown. I got buzzed in (which also makes me feel cool). When I got up there she dropped the bridesmaid miracle. Home girl took care of my dress. What does that mean you ask? BB bought my dress. I kind of wanted to cry on the spot. I made it into the circle of VIP bridesmaid. I guess she has lots of repeat business. So I will say this. All of you faithful followers out there: GO TO BELLA BRIDESMAID OF CHARLESTON. It is awesome. This is coming from a dress hating/anxiety ridden/tom boy. I've been transformed. Here is the icing on the cake. I mentioned that I secretly wanted to sport a fascinator. Okay, confession #2. I love fascinators. I do not know what the heck is happening to me. Oh well. Maybe now that I'm 26 I will start getting a lil more prissy. Maybe not. Who knows. That's enough excitement for now. I took a pic of the fascinator. I kind of want to wear it all the time... Just saying...

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The title sounds much more intriguing than the actual post is... Tricked ya... Tonight I came home, went to bass lessons and came home again. The girl palace was empty. Not going to lie, I fancy some alone time. I decided that I was going to cook myself dinner. So I downloaded Needtobreathe's new album (GET IT NOW) and started getting busy. I cooked mandarin chicken, vegetable stir fry and edemame. Topped off with a nice big glass of the Diet Dew (Standard). I had myself a good ole time. Then I had a photo shoot with the food 1- because it looked so good and 2-because I am mildly obsessed with my camera and use any excuse possible to whip it out. So here is what you missed:

Yes, I did indeed set the table for myself. Felt much cooler than eating on the couch. I don't mind eating alone (not forever though) because I actually had time and space to debrief the day.

Sorry, thought the owls looked pretty magical in this one

Lots of good colors

I really do have to recommend this. It was yummy. And super easy. Plus the house is still empty and I'm enjoying some more NTB and some desperate housewives. Trying to keep it classy people. The new NTB cd is pretty stellar. As soon as you finish reading, go buy it on Itunes. I promise you will love it. Or your $$ back. But you will have to take it up with the band.

If you get a second, say a prayer. I am sharing my testimony at church on Sunday night. Maybe you could even come:) I would love to see you. That's it for me tonight.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Disclaimer: This is a Holy Spirit post. Read at your own risk. I never know where people stand on this subject. One never knows what is about to go down. I also don't want to freak any one out. Ok? Great. Read at your own risk. And don't judge. These are just minor rules people.

This weekend I journeyed somewhere that I quite honestly never thought I would journey to. For serious. I went down to CHM. I like to use the initials because sometimes the name freaks me out. Well, it used to. I'm doing much better with it now. CHM is Christian Healing Ministries. It was started by the MacNutts. Plus it's where Liz B works and lives and is a rock star (except she rigged no door prize winnings for me... Nough said. Our fearless leader, Cassie, was doing a talk at this conference called Hearts on Fire. I tried to skate around it for quite some time, but she got me locked down and signed up. So, for the last 4 weeks I have been secretly dreading going down there. Why you ask? Well, I am a tidbit scared of CHM. Here is why. My 1st St. Andrews retreat was where I first saw some major Holy Spirit action. Some friends and I were on the retreat team and got to go early. We walked in on some Holy Spiritness and I was a bit scared. TRAUMATIZED. But, Cassie has been fixing us ever since. And I love learning about the HS and the gifts of the Spirit. St. Andrews has been an incredible place to learn about all of this. So anyways- I went. And I survived. And I had a GREAT time. I'm about to drop the play by play, so you can eject yourself from this ride if you so wish.

Me, Beth and Megan headed down south on Thursday afternoon. Of course the car ride was very entertaining. I laughed a lot. We went straight on to the conference. Judith MacNutt (I would say she's kind of the big dog there) gave the first talk. It was on Jesus and Women. It was pretty stellar. Then we went back to the hotel where we socialized and laughed and what not. We went to bed. I did not sleep. At all. Which then made me edgy. On Fri morning we headed back to the church. The second talk (by a guy named Lee Grady) was on Barren to Fruit (I think). We learned about Hannah. Which I actually knew nothing about. Whatsoever. We learned about the voices of condemnation and stuff. Then we went to lunch. SIDE NOTE- Jax is actually pretty cool. Good restaurants and really cute houses. The next talk was on Shining like Stars by Linda Strickland. Here is what I took home on that one: It's not about me and it's not about now. (Shabam) Judith dropped the next talk. She put up a really cool pic of Jesus with the woman at the well. I wish i could show you. She talked about the woman at the well and how she had a divine appointment. It was pretty awesome. If you didn't know, the Holy Spirit is the only one that can transform your life. Just saying. There were also some break out sessions. Ok. If you scare easy, then please hit the x at the top of the page. I'm serious. I can't have you judging me. It will give me anxiety.

On Friday night, Judith led into teaching about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. See, when you accept Christ, you get the Holy Spirit. Then when you get the baptism of the HS, you are basically starting up the engine. (Paraphrasing bc I have no idea how to explain this.) At the end of her talk she called people down if they wanted the baptism. I think the baptism also is you asking for whatever gifts you want God to give you. Correct me if I am wrong. I have done this before, but my heart was racing so that usually means God is calling me out. So I went down. Now this is where I used to get scared. When I say used, I mean that I sometimes still get scared. So people were down there getting prayed for and what not. Sometimes this makes people cry, laugh a whole ton, or fall down. Some people also pray to get their prayer language. I can't even begin to touch on this one, so we can talk later. This used to always make me laugh and scare the bejunkedness out of me. I went down. Got some prayer. Not sure if it took or not. Don't worry nothing crazy happened to me. except that I felt like God seriously affirmed some things that I have been praying about and made decisions about. I felt so so so much better. Well, when I opened my eyes, I saw Judith standing right in front of me. (When I first met her, I wasn't super friendly since I thought she was a wizard and all...not the case.) I felt like I needed to apologize to her for giving her crazy looks and telling her I didn't need her to pray for me at our first encounter. So I jumped on the stage. Declared that I was not a crazed fan or anything and apologized. She laughed. (Prolly thinks I'm crazy). Then she told me that I was beautiful. (These types of things make me nervous) So I said ditto and ran off. Real smooth people. We went back to the hotel. Hung out and talked. Sat morning Judith talked about intimacy with God. I learned this: Our identity is in the creator, not the created. Good word right there. Then Lee Grady spoke on Bondage to Breakthrough. I learned about Ruth an Boaz. I learned this: We can't be 100% free until we are 100% transparent. Word up.

Judith brought it home with the last talk of the conference. It was on healing. I learned a lot. There are 4 types: Physical, Spiritual (Sin and woundedness), Demonic Deliverance (this one may scare me) and Inner Healing. Our church has an awesome Inner Healing prayer team so I have gotten to learn a good bit about this one. We all suffer and are wounded form living in a fallen world. Plus we have wounds that others inflict on us and we even wound ourselves. I could go on, but I've prolly already scared you enough. After this one, they had healing prayer. You could go down and get prayed over by Judith and her team. So naturally after much inner debate, I headed down to the front. Honestly, I was scared. I wasn't sure what to expect. Some people (a lot of people) were crying and a ton of people were falling down. I don't think I'm ready to hit the deck yet. So I stood in the line with everyone else. (Here is where I had a lil moment. The night before, when I was praying, I basically was a punk and told God to show up big for me. Like make me cry or something. Or have Judith tell me something. Crazy I know, but I did it. Just being honest) So there me and my 2 friends stood. Waiting to get prayer. We went to the middle because that's where Judith was praying and if I was going for it then I was going all the way. People were dropping like flies. No joke. I got super nervous. I remember her praying for my friends and then they went back to their seats. She prayed for me quick and just when I was about to retreat back to the seat, she came back. (Hello, I told God to show up through Judith. And now look. I'm a punk.) She started praying for me. Normally I would have been panicking inside. But it felt normal. Next thing I knew, her sidekick, Linda was there too. Double whammy. They totally stopped doing what they were doing and camped out with me. I wasn't scared at all. I think they must have prayed for like 10 min. I totally hogged them. Then they told me what they heard and it was awesome. Seriously. So cool. I kind of wish there was a CHM here in Charleston. Then it was over. And we peaced out. If you weren't sure- the weekend was awesome. Straight up.

Here is a piece that I left out. The worship was INCREDIBLE. I have prejudice against lots of worship times because I am spoiled at St. Andrews because Dwight and our worship team is stinking awesome. I have always had a hard time elsewhere. But the girl who led, Kelanie, was awesome. Buy her music. She rocks.

So there you have it. If you made it this far then you are tough and you may think I am absolutely crazy. Or you may relate. Or you may be intrigued. Either way, just know that we are loved. In a totally inconceivable way. That's what I have been thinking about. Crazy huh? This lil heart is on FIRE!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

This weekend I went to McClellanville for Logan's bachelorette. It was awesome. It was beautiful. Never have I slept so well. We ate good food, talked, played in the boat and watched the Gamecocks pull out a victory. I'm flat exhausted. But, I have decided that I could totes live in McClellanville. If someone gave me a house in the water. Not a bad thought huh? I personally like this one...

The bride:)

I caught a big one..

Our friend Bruce..

We semi crashed a boat wedding

Please take note-dolphins approaching on the left. Gator on the right.

The collision

They both walked it off and went on their ways

That's about what we did all weekend. When I got home, I headed to Biz and Shawn's engagement party with some amigas. Pretty sure I locked down a wedding reception dance companion. Just saying. Alright. That's all I've got.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I know, you are probably confused right now. Yes, I did indeed journey to North Mt. Pleasant. Big steps here people. I went for good reason. Good people. Good scenery. It's legit. C. Senf and I enjoyed some suppa and then headed to the dock to take a few pics. I wanted to try the whole flashlight thing again. It took me a while to find my bearings, but I eventually did. Here's a looksy:

N. MTP has some fairly decent sun sets..

oops

A gave it a go:)

Finally getting it to work...

Who doesn't love some rain clouds courtesy of sitting duck.

I finally made a stick person..

Angels in the outfield dock?

Harry Potter wizard hat? Clearly.

So there you have it. It was pretty fun. Plus the weather is AMAZING!!! Tomorrow I hit the open road for Logan's bachelorette weekend. Wish me luck. McClellanville+some besties+good food+boat+floating=AWESOME GLORIOUSNESS. Then Biz and Shawn's engagement partay on Sunday when I return.

Mother Nature has dealt us a sweet hand this week. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much though. I love ADORE the fall. College football, hunting, shrimping, going outside, driving with the windows down, the woods, leaves, fires, kettle corn, Dawson's Creek marathons, playing outside and good fall beer. Seriously. What is there not to like. This is my season. I've been waiting a whole you for you fall. Please don't disappoint. I promise I will enjoy you so much. I think I am going to have some glorious fall adventures. I want to go on some lil photography adventures to : bone yard beach, botany, Georgetown, and the mountains. I also want to go check out some of our sweet state's lil small towns. Restaurant tour anyone? So here's to FALL. Bring it. I'm waiting for you with bells on:)